Sunday, February 28. 20102010.02.28: In Three Days . . .. . . I promise to have my studio fit for a shoot with three mainstream specification female models, makeup artist, hairstylist/stylist, art director, two assistants, and tag-along.
 Shot of my "war room" table on Delta 400 pushed to 3200 in XTOL stock solution. Processing [mis]handled by Rico Moran.
 Both images in this entry shot with the Zeiss Biogon 35/2 and the Leica M7. Same film and processing as previous shot.
Thursday, February 25. 20102010.02.25: Folding@Home Top 1000 out of 1,362,305 participants!Well . . . more like top 900. If you're not familiar with the Folding@Home project you should check out their website. In short, the project co-ordinates the spare computing power of many computers interconnected by the Internet to act as one single, loosely-coupled distributed super computer to help scientists understand protein misfolding-related illnesses. The headline diseases are cancer and Alzheimer's of there are many other diseases the scientists using this system research. Less interestingly, there is little evidence to support the conspiracy theory that Folding@Home participants are helping Stanford University develop biological weapons. There are also some arguments against running Folding@Home if you care to read through them.
 I have a few computers around the city running various Folding@Home clients. The one's in my studio are running on a few overclocked Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550's (3.4+ GHz), an overclocked Intel Core i7 920 (3.7GHz), two Nvidia GTX 275's and one Nvidia GTS 250. The machines are left online so that automated off-site backups and maintenance can complete uninterrupted and without interrupting work during the day. These other processes are not computationally intensive so I might as well put them to work.
Thursday, February 18. 20102009.09.12: 310-DUMP Franchise PackageI first shot 310-DUMP over five years ago making the company my first commercial client. Before that I had only shot weddings and model and actor portfolio work. I met Greg Kirkwood, founder, president, and CEO, at The Standard when I was shooting an event at the night club. All I am going to say about that meeting was that it was an interesting and late night. All delivered photos shot with the Nikon D3 and either the Nikon 24-70mm F/2.8, the 135mm F/2 Defocus Control Nikkor, or the 70-200mm F/2.8 VR Nikkor version 1. Shoot candids taken by Ethan with a Zeiss Ikon, Zeiss Biogon 35mm F/2 on Kodak Ektar.  Matthew's concept drawing of the interior of the franchise package folder. The booklet pulls out and reveals an unobstructed view of the house in the background. Everything is drawn to scale in relation to how it should look in the actual folder. The concept drawing made the end goal easy to understand but finding a house that was tall enough with enough lawn in front to allow for the proper placement of the elements required to print over the folder was nearly impossible. On top of all of this, because of the amount of space and the shooting angle required, ideally you'd want a south-facing house on a slightly overcast day but with blue sky behind the building. We settled for a nice house that was close enough and Matthew "grew" a fence and lawn and composited the family onto the lawn.
 Matthew's concept drawing of the outside of the folder.
 And a sample page of the interior of the drop-in booklet.
 The photo concepts were meant to appeal to specific customer types who would be likely to use 310-DUMP's services. In this photo, Mike Isaak and Brandy act as the happy couple working on home renovations. Interestingly, 310-DUMP doesn't haul paint or any hazardous wastes but Elizabeth's idea to have the couple covered in paint and Nikolas' careful application of the found acrylic paint helped polish up the look of the shot. The photos were shot to allow as wide an aspect ratio as possible to minimize the amount of height consumed on the web pages they would be used on.
 A franchise owner pepping his workers at the beginning of a new day.
 An engineer and construction workers in front of a construction site.
 Christine Hopaluk and another Matt (I hope that's his name) pose as customer and 310-DUMP employee finishing some paperwork.
 Mother and daughter (who aren't actually mother and daughter) spending time together after booking full service waste pickup with 310-DUMP.
 Most of 310-DUMP's full service residential bookings are made by women so most of the full-service oriented imagery feature women as the customers.
 It's a lot of work getting back up after having settled into the ground for the right angle for a shot so Nabeal got down to have a peek. Of course Ethan had to choose the worst possible moment to snap a photo of us discussing composition.
 The shot of the young couple renovating was made from a slightly higher angle. An adjacent home's white wall provided the necessary fill for this shot.
 Sometimes we find the best camera positions in some of the most unlikely places. Ideally I wanted the shade of a tree right where our models would be but Garth did a great job standing in for one with the Scrim Jim and a blocking screen.
Wednesday, February 17. 20102009.09.15: Blue Willow Fusion Lunch MenuIt seems as though Blue Willow Restaurant has been taking large but cautious steps to revamp their offering. Beginning with the build up of a concession trailer to offer specialized foods and desserts at outdoor special events to participating in the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Festival, Blue Willow is now open for lunch with some Asian fusion menu options. Well . . . was open for lunch. After checking up on the restaurant it seems as though a curious staffing issue is temporarily preventing lunch serving but official speculation suggests that the lunch menu may once again be available sometime in March. Keep checking the Blue Willow Restaurant website to see when it does. Until then I hope that you'll be satisfied drooling over the photos. All delivered photos shot with Horseman #3, a Horseman L frame camera now owned by Adam Neufeld. Lens used was the Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6. Film used was Kodak Ektachrome EPP and instant film was Fuji's ISO 100 9x12 stuff. Film processing by ABC Photocolour in Vancouver. Camera and styling assistance, scanning, colour correction, and retouching by Sarah Chung. Later in the shoot, Ethan decided to join us and helped eat. Kitchen and candid photos were shot with the Contax G2 and 35mm F/2 Zeiss Planar on Fuji Pro Z and processed by McBain Camera's Kingsway location. Some of the candids were taken by Sarah.
 It's been a while since I shot these but I'll try my best to describe what's in each photo. This is a chicken breast served on a bed of oriental veggie stir fry with a bit of "Chef Jason's Special Sauce." That's what they told me what I asked them what sauce that was . . . but it was delicious.
  Sweet and sour chicken with a combination of stir fried and steamed vegetables and a side of fried rice. In the background you see the then newly-designed lunch menu. Typically I'd try to shoot with lens axis parallel to the table to maintain subject proportions but I was shooting more for something creative than something more explicit. A small amount of front tilt was applied to get the logo on the menu in focus.
 Take 1 of the breaded pork cutlet.
 Jean felt that the first take of the pork cutlet wasn't descriptive enough and had us shoot from a higher angle. We quickly re-plated, rearranged the table, repositioned some lights and then reshot. While this photo is no longer consistent with the other photos from this shoot I agree that it gives a better representation of the relatively flat pork cutlet and sells the dish better than our original shot.
 Beef steak garnished with onions and lettuce with a side of oriental vegetables. Stan surveyed some of their steak eating customers about which sauce should accompany the steak dish. It seemed as though many serious steak eaters wanted to have HP Sauce with their steak so you get a choice of HP Sauce or a gravy.
 The hands of Thomas (left, restaurant manager) and Jason the chef preparing dishes while we were set up in the VIP room with camera and lighting ready. While all food photography is challenging, Chinese food tends to be especially challenging because of how much of it is fried and because of how much of the food ends up looking brown and in small pieces. It's tasty but not always photogenic so we shoot as quickly as possible after preparation and certain other provisions have to be made to compensate for the food's unphotogenic nature.
Continue reading "2009.09.15: Blue Willow Fusion Lunch Menu" Tuesday, February 16. 20102010.02.16: Artist Profile - Patrick Jacob
One of the fortunate byproducts of a mutual friend's separation from his wife was my chance introduction to Patrick Jacob. Patrick is an Edmonton-based metal artist and designer whose work can be seen in the Belgravia LRT station and in a number of custom commercial signage and high end residential installations. Patrick used to maintain a studio in Hangar 11 at the Edmonton Municipal Airport but has since moved to a west end industrial building. His space, while small, is effectively-utilized and features gallery space showcasing work from a number of notable artists. The work of these artists was, as I understand, acquired through trades of his own work. In the back (or side, depending on how you look at it) of his studio is a workshop in which he works with metal.
 Patrick explains some of the intricacies of what he does with metal before moving a piece to his work bench. The exposure on the left is just . . . weird. But interesting! Sorry, Patrick.  Photograph captured with the Leica M7 and Zeiss Biogon 35mm F/2 on Ilford FP4+ pushed to ISO 800 in Xtol at stock concentration. The artist at work.  A shot of what appears to be a ridiculously heavy concrete and steel wall sculpture at one end of his studio. From what little metal sculpture I have been exposed to, Patrick's is the only metal sculpture I have encountered so far that makes extensive use of concrete.  One of Patrick's functional pieces. I was commissioned to photograph this table for design competition submission. I hadn't shot sculpture in a while and Patrick helped direct photography for several hours to help me understand some of the subtleties of the design. A few days later I switched from Savage's Studio Grey to Rico's roll of Savage Thunder Grey, simplified my lighting setup, and shot this frame with the Horseman LE and a German 210mm F/5.6. at approximately F/11. I wanted to use a view camera for this photo so that we could still see the detail in the top of the glass without distorting the perspective from which the legs need to be captured to ensure that the table's proportions are faithfully captured. Shot on Kodak Portra 160VC. While designed by Patrick, Panache Ceramic Industries as charged with the fabrication of the glass on top.  The artist in his studio with two of his pieces that I find most intriguing. The piece in the foreground is a mixture of metal and concrete shaped while it was wet in plastic. Upon curing, the plastic was removed and the piece painted. Behind Patrick is his Buddha that was reincarnated from a bicycle. Shot with the Linhof Technikardan 45S through the Calumet Caltar-II S 135mm F/5.6 on Kodak Portra 160VC. The skintones were very red and saturated and were tuned up in Photoshop. Friday, February 12. 20102010.02.12: Klyment's Garage Sale Part 2 (Linhof Technikardan 45s)
The Linhof Technikardan 45s is this garage sale's feature item. You can find it new here and the bag bellows here. As noted in the previous entry, the Linhof Technikardan 45s is $1795 with choice of bag or standard bellows, $2075 with both bellows, or $1999 with a Calumet Caltar-II S 210mm F/5.6 in nearly flawless condition that's also almost free of Schneideritis which wouldn't have affected image quality anyway. This camera has been my primary camera for the past six months shooting over a dozen residential interiors, two commercial interiors, a handful of outdoor personal projects, and Avenue's sneak peek of the new Art Gallery of Alberta. Before that, Juliana Sohn owned this camera. In fact, it is for that reason that I am halfheartedly selling the camera but I now have too many cameras. Thanks again to Rico Moran for shooting these photos for me.
 The classic "pretzal" shot of a full monorail camera. Full movements in the front and all movements in the back except there is only rear rise but no rear fall. Just apply rise in the front.  The camera is equipped with Linhof's standard gridded ground glass with 9x12cm markings and is fed by a Fresnel lens. The cover glass is pretty scuffed up but doesn't hinder your ability to compose. However, after using a Maxwell Precision Matte screen on one of my Horseman L frame cameras, I would highly recommend spending the money for an upgraded screen regardless of how good your standard ground glass and Fresnel.  The most amazing feature of this camera is that it's capable not only of compressing the standards this close together with the FULL non-bag bellows but the rail can also be rotated so that it is parallel with the standards allowing it to fit into a slim camera attache case like the Domke J-803 or some Billinghams more commonly used to house Leica rangefinders.  This photo shows that this is the newer 45s and not just the 45. Note the lines on the L standard and if you look carefully there is a swing detent visible under the front standard. This camera is more rigid and easier to collapse than the original Technikardans.  This photo shows one of the red lever tabs is missing. It doesn't affect operation and I was told by the original owner that this tab can easily be replaced by speaking to a Linhof dealer but I never bothered replacing it.  This photo shows the other tab that's missing. It's green and it's missing from the front tilt locking lever.  All bubble levels are intact. Not shown is the bubble-level on the right of the rear standard which is also still there and fully functional.  The cross section view of the collapsible rail that allows the rail to extend up to about 19" or almost 500mm.  One of the most recent shots done with this camera that has already been scanned. This one is of a small part of the Art Gallery of Alberta's Karsh: Image Maker exhibit that runs until May 30th. Shot with the Calumet Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5 that was listed for sale in the previous entry. Portra 160VC . . . the sRGB colour profile conversion doesn't do justice for the colour of the walls in the exhibit and for the capture. Thank you to Brendan Klem for assisting with shooting some of these interiors of the AGA with a view camera. 2010.02.12: Klyment's Garage Sale Part 1
I have some photography-related stuff for sale! It's mostly large format gear but there are some Nikon SLR-related items and some pieces of Bowens/Calumet lighting. Items are located in Edmonton. Thanks to Rico Moran for helping me shoot the product photos.
 Calumet Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5. It's about 20mm in 35mm terms and it was my primary architectural interior lens up until I picked up a Schneider 72/5.6 Super-Angulon XL. The lens is optically flawless but there are blemishes in the metal as illustrated in the following photos. This photo was lit with an older Calumet/Bowens optical spot lamp head (also for sale) for rim light and a diffused Bowens Softlite reflector with diffuser in the foreground on Savage Thunder Gray. Lights driven by a Bowens QuadX 3000 power pack (also for sale).
 Rear view of the Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5.
 Close up showing condition of metal.
 Shot with the Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5 and the Linhof Technikardan.
 The 75mm doesn't have the largest image circle of this type of lens but still has a big enough image circle to make some nearly impossible exterior shots. Here is a photo shot of the Uptown Estate building for Sylvie Perrault Architects of Montreal.
 Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6 in Sinar DB mount. These photos are representative of the look and condition of the Symmar-S 240mm and 180mm in Sinar DB mounts so I won't post all of them but feel free to request photos if you wish to see them.
 Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6
 Rear view of one of the Sinar DB lenses. I originally purchased these Sinar DB lenses for use in studio and for architectural photography because of the shutter's system ability to mechanically time exposures up to 8s where I would normally have to manually time and trigger for architectural interior shooting. Furthermore, the shutter system makes Sinar handling in studio convenient since adjustments to exposure and aperture settings can be done from the rear of the camera and the shutter will also automatically stop down the iris when shooting. However, now I no longer own a Sinar camera or the shutter so I can't use these lenses anymore.
 The Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6 looks a bit different.
 Rear view of the Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6.
Monday, January 18. 20102010.01.18: [De]thinking Lighting
Patrick Jacob of Inex Design Studio came to me with a table that needed photographing. The table has spent the past two weeks sitting around my studio as I agonized over how to light it. The more I thought about it, the worse the lighting got. Over the past few hours I started working with my really old, really basic, and extremely cheap used Norman lighting system. I finally got the results that I wanted. I'll blog again once the film is back from the lab and I am thinking of shooting some Ilford HP5+ and pushing it to ISO3200 in HC-110 dilution B for a few of the angles to see what happens. 4x5 Portra 160VC rated at ISO 100 used as the primary film type with some Fuji Provia 100F to be pushed to ISO 400 out of curiosity.
 Lit with a Norman P500D power pack driving two LH4 heads. One set at 250Ws (channels A and B at 125Ws each combined to power one outlet) and one set at 62Ws (channel C only). The basic 5" Norman grid reflector with grid use to backlight the top glass. 18" beauty dish with a diffusion sock attached for foreground lighting. The "real" shots are being shot on a Horseman LE 4x5 monorail through the Schneider Symmar-S 210/5.6. The rail is tilted forward and the standards were leveled out to provide enough vertical displacement movement to properly proportion the table while still shooting from above the table to show more of the glass work on top. The camera is supported by a Gitzo GT1540 tripod and a Markins Q3 ball head. The head is under 1lbs including clamp (385g) and is rated for a 65lbs (30kg) capacity. And this is Markins' smallest ball head. It's lower profile than most pro ball heads thus helping to reduce impact on tripod stability due to addition of height and is rated for higher capacity and is lighter than any other ball head sold by Vistek or McBain Camera . . . and it's likely cheaper than any other ball head I have found. Markins' North American distributor is based in Langley, British Columbia. Tuesday, January 12. 20102010.01.07: Artist Profile - Frank Grisdale
Frank Grisdale started printing with me about a year and a half ago and, as far as I know, has been printing with me almost exclusively ever since. As many in the Alberta art community know, Frank's primary focus is pictorial landscapes derived from photographic captures. His work places great emphasis on light, colour, and movement and the artist illustrates masterful understanding of these concepts as he applies them to his images. When I first saw some of the images he had passed along to me in digital form, even viewing them on the proofing grade NEC Spectraview displays in my studio I wasn't sure what to think . . . was this photography or was this something else? As a commercial photographer and digital print maker I spend a lot of time and energy perfecting my technique to get my images as close to deliverable as possible right out of camera. It was difficult for me to understand what Frank would put his images through to realize his final vision and, slowly, as printed more of his work and had more time to study the printed pieces I began to appreciate what Frank has managed to accomplish. As prints, his landscapes inspire a sense of peace and wholeness to the viewer that I have difficulty describing. They must be seen. Time spent looking at his work isn't a study of merely photographic technique; it is a glimpse into the artistic enlightenment that has allowed this man to create pieces that beckon another photographer to initiate introspection.
Over the past eighteen months I have printed Frank's work for his solo show at the Peter Robertson Gallery, possibly Edmonton, Alberta's most prestigious commercial gallery, an installation for the Canadian Consulate in Japan, an installation in a CIBC Wood Gundy office in Ontario, and for galleries throughout Canada and the US. In addition, I have seen his work published in publications by Tourism Alberta and have heard of his work being used for art therapy sessions throughout the province. Landscape art is far from being a cutting edge field nor could it even be remotely described as unsaturated. Therefore, what Frank has managed to accomplish, both at a personal level and from public and institutional acceptance of his work, is no small feat. In addition, he's been able to inspire photographers like myself to create work that they have never created before . . . In April of 2009, Frank invited me to his home to photograph it. "It's not supposed to be a documentary project. I want these photos to be an artistic interpretation." I may not have gotten the quote quite right but the essence of what he said is there and this simple statement helped me create photographs which kicked off my journey into architectural photography. His historic home recently sold and I seized the opportunity to snap a few photos of the artist while dropping off a print shortly before he headed back to Ontario. In June of this year, Frank will be directing a nine day photographic workshop tour in Rome and Tuscany with La Bella Vita Art Workshops. It's an opportunity that I would have jumped upon if it wasn't at the peak of the wedding (and wedding photography) season. $2690 is easily what you would pay for a photographic workshop of this length with a maximum group size of just eight people with an internationally recognized photographer but in that price two nights stay in Rome, six nights in Tuscany, and most of your meals are also included.  This would probably the last time that I get to chat with Frank and photograph him in this unique hot tub room. It was my favourite part of this house. Shot with the Leica M7 through the Zeiss Biogon 35/2 ZM on T-max 100 film which I thought was T-max that I was pushing to 1600. I made this realization AFTER I processed the film. Curiously, they were the two best exposed shots on the entire roll.  Frank playing with Boz (sp?), the more sociable of his and his wife's two cats. That weekend they would both leave with him from Edmonton.  One of my favourite images to print, "Cowboy Trail Looking West" reproduces beautifully on both the Arches 285gsm cold press fine art paper that I first started printing on for Frank as well as Hahnemuhle's Bamboo, a 90% bamboo, 10% cotton fibre paper that I consider the first major break through in fine art inkjet receptive paper in the six years I have been printing professionally.  Another favourite, "Field and Fence" interacts with the texture of European cold press papers and really benefits from the bright white point provided by titanium dioxide whitening of Intelicoat's preparation of Arches 285gsm cold press. The colours found on scraps of flawed and undelivered prints of this image have compelled other photographers to choose this paper for their own work.  "Goldfish in Bamboo Stream" came with a generous stack of Japanese gampi torinoko paper. This paper handmade in Japan by ancient Japanese men through a very traditional process and is only available in 20x30" sheets. The paper, while internally sized, still required a little more drying time than was naturally provided by the Epson Stylus Pro 9800 even at 2880x1440 DPI and with the highest microweave settings enabled. To produce acceptable results, I specified additional drying time using Ergosoft's Posterprint and also burned through most of Frank's initial stock of his paper before creating a usable print environment and ICC profile. Even then, the unbleached nature of the paper reduced gamut in the blues and greens but the prints, at least to my eye, possessed qualities that I have yet to recreate with other papers due to its natural internal lustre. Fortunately, I never tired of printing this image. Friday, January 8. 20102010.01.05: [Almost] Last roll of T-max . . . ever!
I hate Kodak T-max. Even the new stuff. It has nothing to do with the imaging characteristics of the film . . . just that the film holds a bad curl and seems to attract dust and get scratched much more easily than Ilford's films. There is one more roll of T-max 400 film that I need to process and I am giving away the rest of my Kodak black and white film. Anyhow, a few frames from the roll. Just fun shots to test my chrome/vulcanite body/MP finder Leica M7. The chrome colour is very important! And for the record, I didn't want to buy this camera but my Zeiss Ikon is in Japan for repair and has been gone for a month or two now. I couldn't wait any longer to get a manual focus rangefinder back and I couldn't find a good deal on a silver Zeiss Ikon so I picked up the first good deal I found (or maybe Ethan found) for a Leica M7. That said, a good deal on an M7 is about twice as expensive as a Zeiss Ikon and brand new M7's are around triple the prices of brand new Zeiss Ikons. I kind of get it but not really.
And right after typing all of that above I realize that I am posting photos from a roll of Ilford HP5+ pushed to ISO 1600 in Kodak XTOL stock solution. Hahah . . . I was looking for dust and scratches and couldn't find them. But my assertions about T-max still stand. Anyhow, lots more stuff to post over the next few days. Check back after the weekend!  Leanna and her Vancouver Winter Olympics mitts. You'll just have to take my word that they are red. The disfigured humanoid form in the background is Ethan. Shot with a black Leica Elmarit 28/2.8 ASPH. I probably would have kept this lens if it was silver and if it had a full focusing ring instead of that silly thumb focuser that Leica keeps putting on their more recent lenses.  I think this is my last shot of Ethan . . .  . . . unless I shot this . . .  . . . or this.  Sébastien Guillier-Sahuque stretching some of his own canvas prints. Recently he printed a set of 3:1 aspect panoramic images that got a lot of attention of several people who came through my studio as they were hanging on the wall to dry.  Sébastien looking through Ethan's Ikon and 90/2 Leica Pre-APO Summicron attached.  I haven't had a chance to process the film from the Technikardan yet. I was trying to shoot some abstract shots of snowdrifts.  Guess who are the people in this shot while I try to guess who shot this without first focusing the camera.  Leanna making a craaaazy person face just before supper at Il Pasticio. 2009.10.30: Art Gallery of Alberta for Avenue Magazine
In October and December of 2009 I had the privilege of photographing the interior of the new Art Gallery of Alberta for Avenue's sneak peek into the interior to be run in their January issue. Art direction by Paige Weir of Avenue Magazine with direction from the AGA by Sarah Hoyles. Ethan Oblak assisted with the October shoot and Rob Lim assisted with the December visit. Shots were made on the Horseman LE 4x5 chassis on Kodak EPP and Fuji Provia 100F or the Linhof Technikardan 45s on Kodak Portra 160VC. There are eight images that I'd like to discuss but my words are governed by a non-disclosure agreement and since the AGA isn't officially open yet I'll only discuss three of the eleven that were published from this day of shooting. I will try to blog again about these photos once the gallery is open.
Another huge thanks goes out to Curtis Comeau for referring me to Avenue so that I would have the opportunity to shoot this project.
 Shot in October. Still a lot of construction going on in what I believe is the main foyer. This was the Fuji 9x12cm instant proof.  A scaled down scan of the frame delivered to Avenue. I wanted an out of focus foreground element and using an ultrawide lens like the All shot through the Calumet Caltar-II N/Rodenstock Sironar-N 75mm F/4.5 allowed me to exaggerate the size of the foreground glass panels. F/11, Fuji Provia 100F.  Shot with the Horseman LE and the 135/5.6 Caltar-II S/Rodenstock APO Sironar-S. There wasn't enough room to back up further to use the 210/5.6 Symmar-S so I used the 135 and applied a bit of front tilt to shallow the depth of field. I also wanted to keep the parallel lines parallel so I needed to apply rear rise to capture more of the lower part of the frame. However, the camera had to stay at a certain height so that there could be some more of the space visible and the image circle of the lens, while fairly large, has its limits. In the dim light I wasn't able to stop down. The dark areas in the bottom are outside the circle of illumination of the lens. In a way, this was an error on my part. There weas another frame with less vignetting but I found this was the most interesting frame. 1/2s exposure, F/5.6, Kodak Ektachrome EPP.  Fuji instant film proof the next shot. Ethan is keeping the film flat for me.  Shot with the Linhof Technikardan 45s on Kodak Portra 160VC with the Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5, this shot provided an interesting challenge for the film. Had this been shot on slide film we would have lost all shadow detail or the film would have to be overexposed so all highlight detail on the white surfaces and metal would be lost. According to the software densitometer in Silverfast while scanning with the Microtek M1, no areas were blown out. And these are the two photos I have posted from this camera. I purchased the Technikardan a few months ago from legendary photographer Juliana Sohn. She has since moved on to shoot a Leaf digital medium format back on an Alpa Max. Sunday, October 25. 20092009.07.20: Nikolas' [unsubmitted] Contessa makeup artistry shoot
Two months before the shoot date Nikolas informed me that he had intentions of entering the 21st Contessa Awards in the makeup artistry category. I was pleased that he was aware of the time and effort required to pull together the models, materials, and time needed to do this shoot properly and that he was still interested in competing in spite already-established recognition for his work amongst my clients and in some parts of the industry in general. I never pass on an opportunity to work with Nikolas and we immediately started creating our list of models that we wanted to work with for this project. The list included many people that we have worked with before and we would have liked to have worked with them all but scheduling prevented us from having more than a single day of shooting. July 20th was our scheduled shoot day. The competition required a day look, a night look, and a look that could be whatever the makeup artist wanted to do. In the end, we didn't produce a night look from this shoot that we felt was strong enough for submission and while we had other options, Nikolas decided not to submit the photos for the competition and I supported his decision. We'd do better work next year and this time we'd have the ideas for the competition brewing in the backs of our minds until summer 2010. Still, I felt that we created some solid makeup-oriented images even though most shots were with very natural makeup. Furthermore, I felt that my yield from this shoot contained some of the best shots of Julie's face that I have ever shot.
Thanks again to our models Whitney Grace, Julie Gillespie, Alteira Evans, and Stephanie Calihoo, photographers Corey Thompson (Yellowjacket Photography) and Rob Lim (Rob & Lauren Photographers) and set designer/prop master Christina Ignacio-Deines (IDBohemia) for making this possible and also to all of the models who agreed to work with us but we were unable to shoot. We will work together sometime soon.  One of the first shots of the day at the shoot location. Nikolas is about to touch up Julie's makeup and Julie looking hot as usual.  Most people's favourite shot of Julie from the shoot. 135/2 Defocus Control Nikkor set to the "2R" setting for spherical aberration de-correction. Shot at F/2, nominal sensitivity of the D3 (ISO 200), and around 1/1000-1/2000s. Almost all shots with t he Nikon D3 were shot with these settings and with this lens. Colour photos all untouched outside of Lightroom 2.x. I wanted to experiment a bit with some colour toning and most people seemed to like the "golden" cast that the deliberate white balance offsetting and slight split toning towards yellow for highlights combined with desaturation gave to the photo.  My favourite shot of Alteira from this set. White reflector held above camera and very close to subject to help balance the backlighting of the sun that provides the rimlighting for this photo.  One of Corey's photos and my favourite photo of Stephanie from this shoot. We only met Stephanie this day. She's one of Alteira's friends. Turns out Justin Poulsen knows her, too. Corey was shooting from a low angle through some grass with the D3 and the 70-200/2.8 VR while I was working Rob's Horseman LE.  An experimental shot using no reflector for fill. The ghosting and overall rendition of the 135/2 Defocus Control Nikkor is one of the reasons I still shoot small format digital SLR in spite of the availability of 35mm rangefinders, a digital medium format Rollei system, and numerous large format cameras in my equipment collection.  Nikolas was checking the ground glass of the Horseman to ensure that the camera was seeing what he had envisioned when I told him to pose like he was using the camera. Please, someone shoot a shot like this of me one day or else I'm going to Photoshop my face onto Nikolas' body and it's going to be really weird. Zeiss Ikon, 35/2 Biogon, new Kodak TMax 400 @ 1600 in HC-110, dilution B. Many more photos after the jump. Continue reading "2009.07.20: Nikolas' [unsubmitted] Contessa makeup artistry shoot" 2009.06.26: [Getting lost during an] engagement shoot in the woods
The 2009 wedding shooting year wrapped up for Dong and I at the end of September. I'm still working through some colour and silver halide black and white film from the last few weddings and I came across some photos from Vivian's and Aaron's engagement shoot in the mossy forest introduced to me by Cody Tait and Mike Isaak. I started shooting with the Zeiss Ikon at first and then backtracked to pick up my Sinar X and subsequently got lost. Not just a little lost . . . so lost that I had to follow the noise to the high way and then find my way back in, eating up about half an hour of daylight. It was an interesting experience and we got our shots but I'm definitely not wearing sandals into a forest again.
 I eventually found the couple and they were about to leave for a washroom break but they had written me a note: "We are going to the washroom and we have your camera."  This shot gives you a sense of the atmosphere in which the engagement photos were shot. The moss is several inches deep, there's very little direct sunlight entering the forest even when it isn't overcast, and the background consists of muted colours but with high contrast between sky, tree trunks, and moss. Shot on the Zeiss Ikon with the 35/2 Biogon ZM on Fuji Provia 100F push processed to ISO 400 by ABC Photocolour in Vancouver.  This 100% crop of the previous frame performed with the Nikon Coolscan 5000 gives you an idea of the grain structure. It's very well-managed and I find it aesthetically pleasing. I intend to try pushing this film to ISO 800 the next time I shoot it and I will try this with 4x5 sheets as well.  One of the frames shot on a sheet of Ilford HP5+ pushed to ISO 3200 in HC-110 dilution B. For weeks I have been trying to find film and developer combinations to produce film grain that I could resolve using the Microtek M1 scanner and this was the first frame in which I managed to do so. Now the majority of my large format black and white sheet film is push processed. Tuesday, October 20. 20092009.10.20: Uhhh, I think your hypo clearing agent went bad This bottle of Hustler's hypo eliminator working solution was mixed a few months ago but seems to have expired prematurely. What's really funny is that after seeing this liquid come out, at first I told Ethan to just keep pouring it. Hahah. Solution dumped and a new batch mixed and everything seems to be okay, thankfully.Monday, October 12. 20092009.10.12: Other People's Shoots
One of my favourite parts of being a photographer is being on another photographer's set.
 Prepping for one of Curtis Comeau's personal projects. Curtis' brother Trevor is beside me in this incriminating photo of me holding a Canon 1Ds Mark III. It's okay - I rinsed my hands off with gasoline afterwards.  Nikolas working on one of Curtis' models' makeup. Zeiss Ikon, 35/2 Biogon, Ilford HP5+ pushed to ISO 1600 in Kodak HC-110 dilution B.  Stephen Pilby switching from his usual role of supporting some of the world's top photographers and cinematographers with his innovative light shaping tools to doing some of the image capture himself. Stephen's on the right. He shot mostly 35mm HP5+ and some medium format XP2 on this day.  Christina Ignacio-Deines working with some notable Edmonton drag queens. While shooting with the D3 mostly Christina also managed to shoot several frames of Kodak Ektachrome EPP 4x5 sheet film and some of it turned out interestingly.  Christina working the Sinar X and the 210/5.6 Schneider Symmar-S shooting Binky.  Michael Shandro assisting with wardrobe while Nikolas works on Michael's subject's hair and makeup. Shot with the Contax G2 and Planar 35/2 on Fuji Pro Z rated at ISO 640.  Nikolas does some touch ups as Michael checks some of his images on the Canon 5D Mark II. Shot with the Zeiss Ikon and the Leica Elmarit 21/2.8 ASPH on Fuji Neopan 1600, pushed to ISO 3200 in Kodak Xtol, stock.  A poorly-exposed shot of Nikolas helping Sarah Chung hold up a California Sunbounce reflector at Michael shoots.  Not exactly on the set of the shoot but here we have Rico Moran unloading (or was it loading?) some 4x5 slide film in a dark bag. Ethan's in the background helping him out. |
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